


it's time (sing your heart out)

by dreamweavernyx



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reality Show, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-27
Updated: 2013-07-27
Packaged: 2017-12-21 12:58:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/900595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamweavernyx/pseuds/dreamweavernyx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Jim Kirk first puts his name down on the registration sheet, he'd never expected that he'd get a family out of it.</p><p>(Or, the one where everybody joins the X Factor, and Christopher Pike's the most kickass head judge ever.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	it's time (sing your heart out)

**Author's Note:**

> I swear this started out as a totally random idea :/ I _swear_.
> 
> I had some headcanon voices for each character as I went along. May not be headcanon for everyone, but it helped me imagine the scenes with singing quite well.
> 
> Kirk: [James Arthur](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh2oWbaRvQg)  
> Bones: (didn't have a definite headcanon but mostly) [Alejandro from Boyce Avenue](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie9VxRF7ucM)  
> Uhura: [Leona Lewis](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqrTxDwQ51w)  
> Hikaru: [Kye Sones](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZOD5gvSwYM)  
> Chekov: [Jahmene Douglas](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-xndZZjM4A)  
> Scotty: a male![Lucy Spraggan](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i3qeErUaFo)
> 
> Also - Enterprise (as a group): [Pentatonix](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh-72yBP7sw)
> 
> Based off what I can remember of the X Factor USA (even though most of the headcanons are X Factor UK).
> 
> (I would've put Spock in except I really really couldn't imagine him even auditioning so)

The Colorado sun shines down and he squints even through his sunglasses, pulling his baseball cap a little lower as he finally manages to squeeze his way through to the front of the registration queue.

 

“Name?” asks the staff member at the desk, handing him tag number 1701.

 

“James Kirk.”

 

“Welcome to the X Factor, James Kirk. Waiting room’s just through that door.”

 

~

 

“Oh god, Mama, it’s okay-”

 

“Nonsense, Pasha. Make sure your Babushka can keep up.”

 

There are some people you just can’t say no to, and an intimidating, well-built Russian woman is one of them. Pavel winces as he watches his mother push through the crowd, the people parting like the Red Sea as she clears a path for his entire family to squeeze through.

 

He’s lived on the outskirts of New York all his life, and the sheer number of people thronging around the building makes him almost reconsider his decision and flee to the safety of his room and his grunge music.

 

_Almost._

 

He feels sorry for the staff member cowering slightly at the sight of his mother staring down the registration form.

 

~

 

Nyota leans back in the plastic chair, tuning out the chattering of her best friend Gaila with ease of practice. Gaila’s been excited for the auditions of X Factor ever since she first saw Season 2 (“Oh my god, Emblem3, can you _imagine_ , Nyota?”) and it’s more curiosity than anything else that causes Nyota to follow Gaila here to this noisy building in Long Island, sticker tag stuck firmly to her skirt.

 

(Nyota’s always loved singing, but never really in front of a crowd.)

 

Across the room, she sees a teenage boy with a mop of curls lounging in a corner, looking a mix between nervous and miserable. Noticing the intimidating-looking women standing around him, she can only imagine why.

 

“Nyota!” Gaila shrieks, dragging her back to reality. “Were you listening?”

 

“Sorry,” she replies absently, staring down at the number _305_ staring up at her from her number tag.

 

~

 

“Oh my god, what am I even _doing_ here?”

 

“Calm the fuck down, Hikaru, you’re gonna do fine,” laughs McKenna, his friend’s roommate, and slaps him on the back.

 

Hikaru can’t help but worry the hem of his shirt in his hands, and feel slightly claustrophobic as he stares at the crowds of people squeezing in.

 

“I didn’t know Los Angeles had so many people,” he says faintly, feeling much more than a little nervous.

 

He’s never had much confidence in his singing, and it’s only through a combination of emotional blackmail and actual blackmail that he’s now pressed against a wall, trying to be invisible among the throngs of people strumming away at guitars and warming up their ranges.

 

“Oh god,” he mumbles to himself again.

 

~

 

Montgomery Scott (always Scotty for short, he tells everybody) has never been one to be affected by crowds, and now he calmly sits on the floor, fingering chords on his guitar absently and ignoring the people muttering as they step around him.

 

His roommate, Keenser, snorts at him and Scotty rolls his eyes.

 

“Shut up Keenser, yeh’re only here for emotional support.”

 

Ignoring Keenser’s indignant glare, Scotty scribbles something on the piece of paper on his lap and goes back to strumming.

 

~

 

“Don’t worry, Daddy,” six-year-old Joanna says with a tiny tug on his arm. “You’re the best.”

 

Leonard McCoy ruffles Joanna’s hair indulgently, and she clings to his jeans as they try to find somewhere in the room to sit down. Joanna points out a nice man with a guitar sitting on the floor, but he looks a little like a hobo to Leonard to he turns away, going for an empty spot by the wall instead.

 

The girls coo over Joanna and she drinks in the attention as Leonard stands by, foot tapping nervously as he waits for his number to be called.

 

~

 

“I’m excited,” Pavel tells the camera, and he can see the camera crew raising their eyebrows at his accent. “It’s my first time in the city, my first time in front of so many people.”

 

“And what do you think of the judges?” prompts the man filming him for the TV.

 

“Christopher Pike has been one of my idols since I was young,” replies Pavel, chest unconsciously puffing out a bit. “I’m really excited to be able to sing in front of him.”

 

~

 

It’s not Gaila’s best performance, and Nyota watches from the backstage screens as Gaila walks off sadly. She’s prepared for an armful of sobbing best friend, but there’s only so long she can hold Gaila before she has to go up on stage for her turn.

 

“Sing their butts off,” says Gaila, smiling slightly even as she sniffles. “For me.”

 

“Sure,” Nyota says, bumping Gaila’s outstretched fist, and then the stagehands are beckoning and it’s her cue to walk up the steps and out onto the brightly-lit stage.

 

~

 

“What’s your name?” the blonde female judge (Chapel, he remembers belatedly) asks him, shuffling a couple of papers around.

 

“Hikaru Sulu,” he says, an involuntary tremor running through him at the sound of his voice echoing throughout the large hall. “I-I’m from San Francisco.”

 

He takes in a deep breath to steel himself, and feels the jitters slowly wash away as he stares out into the crowd.

 

Right. He can do this.

 

~

 

“Name?”

 

“James Kirk,” he says easily, “but call me Jim.”

 

“Jim,” tests Christopher Pike, looking up from the judges’ panel. “And where are you from, Jim?”

 

“Iowa.”

 

There are scattered cheers at the mention of his hometown, and Jim grins easily, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

 

“Did anyone come with you today, Jim?” asks the redhead judge who he recognizes as popstar Janice Rand.

 

“Nope,” he replies. “Didn’t want anyone around, just in case I end up embarrassing myself or anything, yknow?”

 

That prompts more laughter from the crowd, and Jim looks out from the stage, feeling more confident right now than he has ever felt on stage before.

 

~

 

Scotty waits for the stagehands to hand him his guitar, and then he adjusts it until it hangs just right.

 

“What will you sing for us today, Mr Scott?” asks the serious-looking judge. (Keenser’s drilled the names of the judges into his head so he won’t screw up, and he remembers this one to be Mr Spock, head of some bigwig recording company whose name he can’t quite recall.)

 

“I’m going to sing one I composed myself, if ye don’t mind,” he replies, and Christine Chapel sits up straighter at the prospect of original music, looking very pleased.

 

“Whenever you’re ready.”

 

~

 

“I don’t think the judges had a very good first impression,” Leonard later says for the camera in a post-audition interview. “Must’ve been because I forgot to shave.”

 

“But they changed their minds?”

 

Leonard shrugs.

 

“I could see that Spock’s expression change when I broke out the big notes, and that felt good.”

 

“Better than good!” Joanna crows from behind the camera. “Daddy, you’re going to _bootcamp_!”

 

~

 

“My whole family’s actually backstage,” Pavel says with a nervous laugh. “My Mama and Papa and Babushka and all the cousins.”

 

Janice Rand coos at this and Pavel suppresses a grimace. (He’s not thirteen, he’s _seventeen_ , he’s not a child anymore!)

 

“Well then, Pavel,” Christopher Pike says kindly, “what will you sing for us today?”

 

Pavel wrings the mic in his hands, mind going blank for a second, before he remembers.

 

“At Last,” he says. “By Etta James.”

 

The crowd cheers, and Pavel smiles shakily, waiting for the piano to kick in.

 

~

 

Nyota loves singing, and as the first notes of her song begin to play she feels a rush of adrenaline fill her. The spotlights soar as her voice climbs, the notes belting out into the crowd, and she’s never felt more at home.

 

When the crowd rises as one to their feet, she knows she’s got this one in the bag, and can’t help a smile of pride.

 

_For us, Gaila._

 

~

 

Scotty doesn’t know the exact moment the disappasionate Spock judge transitioned from disinterest to appreciation, but the next thing he knows the man’s on his feet with the other four judges, applauding as he finishes his little ditty.

 

“Cute song about sandwiches,” Pike tells him. “Now you’ve made me hungry for one, congratulations.”

 

It’s an eccentric comment, but somewhat typical of the eccentric judge, and Scotty accepts it with grace, as he does his four ‘Yes’es.

 

~

 

Swedish House Mafia may not have been the best decision for an audition song, but Hikaru’s always been rubbish at memorizing song lyrics and Save The World is one of the few he can actually remember how to sing.

 

Surprisingly, his acoustic version goes down rather well, and the approving roar of the crowd washes away his jitters as he sings the last few notes.

 

“Brilliant rendition,” praises Janice Rand, marking something down. “Christopher, what do you think?”

 

“It’s a yes for me,” says the country singer, and Hikaru can’t help the grin that stretches across his face.

 

~

 

Pavel floats into bootcamp still high from the standing ovation he’d received from auditions. They’d all written him off as just another jittery kid, but he’d shown them, and Mama’d been right – there was something about his voice that made people shut up and listen.

 

There’s an Asian guy in the dressing rooms looking slightly nervous, so he heads over, hoping the guy’s friendly enough to talk.

 

“Hey,” he says. “I’m Pavel Chekov.”

“Hikaru Sulu,” returns the Asian, lips quirking at the edges. “Call me Hikaru.”

 

“Hikaru.” Pavel tests the name, the foreign word strange on his tongue.

 

“You’re not from here?” Hikaru asks, obviously having noted the accent.

 

“Parents are Russian,” returns Pavel. “I live in New York.”

 

“San Francisco.”

 

Pavel notes the nervousness disappear from his new friend’s eyes as they continue their easy banter, and he allows himself the tiniest feeling of victory.

 

~

 

Nyota’s paired with a gruff-looking man with a hawkish moustache who introduces himself as Leonard McCoy. She doesn’t know _how_ the judges decided her bootcamp partner, because her belting and his low bass tones don’t seem to go at first, but they eventually decide on a song.

 

Leonard’s a nice enough guy, and she learns that he has the most adorable daughter waiting to watch him on TV back in his ex-wife’s home in Georgia.

 

“She lives with the wife most of the time,” he tells her one day after practice. “Jocelyn let her come with me for the auditions, and now she’s been bugging her mum every day to find out when they’ll start airing the show.”

 

There’s obvious pride in his voice as he speaks of his child, and Nyota can’t help but feel the slightest stab of envy as she remembers her own parents, always seeming half as proud and twice as distant.

 

~

 

Scotty’s partner is a twitchy young man named Olsen, and they both watch from backstage as some guy called Jim Kirk charms the socks off the judges with his voice alone, stealing all the limelight for himself.

 

The guy’s good, Scotty grudgingly admits to himself, and hopes that he can still impress the judges after _that_ performance.

 

~

 

Pavel’s not with him in the Young Adults category, so Hikaru has nobody to stand with in the thick suspense as they line up on stage, awaiting the results.

 

He watches as four girls and two guys happily bound off the stage after their names have been called, and forces himself not to be disappointed.

 

~

 

There’s an Asian guy looking rather faint five people down from him, but Jim’s in his own state of shock. He’d thought he’d done well enough, and the judges _had_ looked impressed – was it not enough?

 

 _Ah well_ , he thinks to himself as he follows the other dejected young adults backstage. _There’s always next year._

 

A dark-skinned woman pushes past him as she stalks backstage, looking a little shaken, and Jim lets her go. He’s not in the mood to feel indignant at being pushed around, and he doesn’t want to antagonize anyone at this present moment.

 

The show staff insist that all the rejected contestants remain in the waiting room, so Jim heaves a small sigh and starts finding himself somewhere comfortable to sit.

 

~

 

Scotty’s not really expecting his name to be called, but still it feels rather disappointing when he turns to go back to the waiting room with the rest of the over-30s, not having heard his name called by the judges.

 

The Jim guy from the other day is there too, and Scotty does his best to smother his shock – if _he_ hadn’t gotten through then there must have been serious, serious talent that _did_ get through – and plops down on a chair of his own.

 

~

 

Pavel’s the last of the despondent teens to enter the waiting room, but as he does he catches sight of a familiar head of black hair.

 

“Hikaru!” he calls, and the guy in question looks up, eyes creasing into a smile as he recognizes Pavel.

 

“Didn’t get through either?” Hikaru asks, voice rough, and Pavel nods.

 

“We can always try again,” he says comfortingly, and Hikaru chokes out a laugh, nodding.

 

~

 

Leonard’s not looking forward to calling Joanna, telling her that he didn’t make it through bootcamp – he can already imagine her disappointment written all over her face.

 

The staff member who enters the room is thus the least of his worries. That is, until he hears his name being called.

 

~

 

Nyota looks up to see one of the staff members walk in with a clipboard.

 

“Will the following contestants please go back up to the stage,” she says, and Nyota can vaguely remember this happening in previous seasons.

 

The first name she calls is that of Leonard McCoy, and it takes the man half a minute to register it before he stands up all too suddenly in complete surprise, knocking his chair over in his haste.

 

She smiles as she watches him go – Leonard’s been a good partner, and she’s happy that he at least got a second chance.

 

And then she hears “Nyota Uhura”, and she can’t suppress her own shriek of surprised delight.

 

~

 

“Jim Kirk.”

 

“Hell yeah,” Jim says to himself, resisting the urge to fistpump, and follows the dark-skinned woman named Nyota back up to the stage.

 

~

 

Scotty’s debating over whether he should just sneak out of the waiting room to grab something to eat when he hears his name being called.

 

Sandwich forgotten, he heads for the stage.

 

~

 

“Pavel Chekov.”

 

Hikaru squeezes Chekov’s hand encouragingly.

 

“You deserved it,” he says softly, feeling proud for his newly-found friend, but Pavel shakes his head stubbornly.

 

“So did you,” Pavel says.

 

“And Hikaru Sulu,” finishes the staff member, and Pavel breaks out into a full-blown grin, tugging on his hand.

 

“See? I knew it, Hikaru!”

 

~

 

There are now six people on stage, and as Jim looks around he can vaguely recognize most of them.

 

“The six of you were too good for us to let go,” says Chapel, “so we’re giving you a second chance. You’ll be going to the judges’ houses, but as a group.”

 

The sense of elation that fills Jim is late in the coming but still amazing anyway.

 

“I’m really grateful,” he tells the camera later. “Back in Iowa I’ve got nothing except my part-time job at the grill, and I’m really glad the judges have given me this second chance to prove that I’m much more that that.”

 

~

 

In the weeks leading up to the judges’ houses, the six of them meet up for coffee a lot, and also crash Nyota’s place to sing a lot.

 

Joanna had shrieked his ear off when she found out (“oh my god, Daddy, you’re going to be on TV!”), but Leonard doesn’t mind, much.

 

He might be the oldest in the group – now lovingly christened ‘Enterprise’ for reasons unknown – but he feels as though he’s among brothers and sisters, for all that they laugh and fight together.

 

It’s his new family, and he can’t be happier for it.

 

~

 

They’d worked out early on that Enterprise would be an _a capella_ group, and Nyota finds herself saddled with the role of lead female vocal, even despite the fact that the Pavel kid’s range can go even higher than her own if he breaks out his falsetto range.

 

Jim Kirk just grins at her and tells her not to worry, then assigns Pavel all the inhumanly high harmony parts.

 

The sandwich man she remembers from the auditions somehow becomes their beatboxer, and Leonard takes over the bassline. The Asian guy becomes the soothing tenor harmony to Jim’s strong lead vocal, and somehow, despite being randomly thrown together, Nyota thinks that together they sound like they were always meant to sing together.

 

~

 

The groups are all shipped off to the judge’s house in New Zealand, and Pavel exhausts himself counting all the sheep they pass on the way to the cliffside mansion.

 

And then the door to the mansion opens and Pavel realizes that the groups’ mentor is _Christopher Pike_ , and he’s suddenly filled with energy again, coupled with new determination, at the thought of being able to work with Christopher Pike.

 

Enterprise _will_ make it to the live shows. They have to.

 

~

 

They rehearse their song once more before Pike calls them in. Titanium is a tricky song to sing, and Scotty nervously runs through his bits in his head, hoping that he won’t screw up.

 

“Alright guys,” Jim says, “gather round.”

 

They form a circle and throw their arms over each other’s shoulders as Jim gives them a last minute pep talk.

 

“There’s no such thing as no-win scenarios,” he says firmly. “Now, let’s go out there and kick ass!”

 

“Yeah!” Scotty cheers along with the rest of them, and as cheesy as it sounds, he _does_ feel more confident now.

 

“Let’s go, sister and brothers,” Jim calls, as a staff member beckons to them.

 

“Hell,” Scotty laughs. “Let’s boldly go.”

 

~

 

Hikaru’s glad beyond belief that Nyota suggested involving basic choreography in their performance, because Christopher Pike and his guest judge, former girl group member Carol Marcus, both look impressed when they break out into dance as Jim belts out his solo.

 

He doesn’t like dancing, but for the sake of performing he’ll do it.

 

Pavel throws him a wink as they cross paths and Hikaru grins a little wider, bringing the mic up to his mouth to back up Nyota’s solo.

 

It’s taken him a long time, but he’s starting to believe that maybe, just maybe, this is where he can belong.

 

~

 

“We did the best we could,” Leonard tells the camera diplomatically after they take their leave of the judges.

 

“We kicked ass!” Jim laughs, clapping a hand around Leonard’s shoulders, and he can hear Pavel’s enthusiastic agreement from somewhere near his left.

 

“That we did,” Nyota acknowledges, ever the picture of effortless composure.

 

Leonard rolls his eyes heavenwards as Jim whoops, corralling Scotty back into the house.

 

“Five weeks with these guys,” he tells the camera. “It’s going to take me five _years_ to get completely used to that one especially.”

 

But by the way he smiles wryly both he and the cameramen know he doesn’t mean it.

 

~

 

Jim can’t help but fidget under Pike’s gaze.

 

“Enterprise, the six of you have come a long way, from six talented singers to one amazing group.”

 

Pavel’s squirming a little next to him, and Jim cracks a tiny smile at that.

 

“However,” Pike continues, not noticing, “all the groups have much to offer, and I can only put in four groups through to the live shows.

 

Hikaru’s hand is clammy in his, gripping tightly, and Jim squeezes back, trying to calm him down a little. _Relax_ , he wants to say. _I have faith in us._

 

“Enterprise…”

 

All six of their gazes snap up to Pike’s face, waiting, anticipating.

 

“…I’ll see you at liveshows.”

 

Jim doesn’t even bother to restrain his whoop of joy, and grabs Hikaru, the guy closest to him, and pulls the protesting guy in for a happy hug. He feels Pavel jump in from behind, and soon they’re a laughing tangle of arms and legs, because they’ve done it, _they’ve done it_.

 

“Yes!” Pavel crows, as they pull apart.

 

Jim studies each of the five people he’s spent the last few weeks with, people who have become his family, his siblings, on this show.

 

“Buckle up,” he tells them, heart bursting with joy and excitement. “We’re in for a long ride to the top.”

 

 

 

_end._


End file.
